Exploring the scale-up of prevention, care and support in Zimbabwe:
A place for narrative inquiry
Diane MarshallSIM International / University of Technology, [email protected]
Exploring the scale-up of prevention, care and support in Zimbabwe:
A place for narrative inquiry
Outline� Background� Narrative Inquiry
o Strengthso Challenges
� Research methodology� Findings � Conclusions
Caring nothing for the division between good and bad literature, narrative is international, transhistorical, transcultural:
It is simply there, like life itself.(Barthes 1977, p79)
Narrative Inquiry
� Orders and explores the interplay between individual, institutional, cultural, and social contexts (Clandinin & Rosiek 2007)
� Embedded in context and time� Focuses on the relationship of the
researcher & the researched
� Multiple ways of knowing
Narrative Inquiry
Story telling is not just about work.
It is work (Orr 1996).
Narrative inquiry � greatly under utilized to improve
understanding of problems be a part of a flexible organizing effect
� mainly used to tell stories of illness, grief & death
Strengths� Well suited in the context of community
development� Exposes tacit knowledge, spiritual beliefs &
values� Facilitates local control over the research� Enables input and analysis from a variety of
sources� Participants are co-producers of meaning &
more able to control public representation
Challenges
� Stories may minimize the collective-social dimension
� Subtle aspects of context and social discourse, which shape what can and cannot be said
� Tension between between forming generalizations and context specific cases
� Requires time, trust, and respect
Methodology
Three dimensional narrative inquiry space (Clandinin and Connelly 2000)
1. Person-social dimension2. Backward and forward dimension3. Outward dimension
Interviews + social mapping + observation
1. Examine narrative segments
2. Identify the person-social dimension, the backward and forward dimension, and the outward dimension of the overall narrative
3. Ask why the story is being told in the way it is
4. What stories are difficult to tell
Narrative Analysis
Findings
Learning to scale-up is conceptualised as a contextualised, collectively constructed experience
Tension exists between recognised’training and and traditional life-long learning
Requires synergistic partnerships, the backing of community leaders, & space to experiment
Engaging effective, competent volunteers is critical
Findings
Collective competency and a sense of identity
Facilitating factors• Participatory leadership & healthy team
relationships, • Prayer • Favourable financial arrangements, and
effective monitoring & evaluation
Findings
Findings
Inhibiting factors• Perceived ‘de-personalising of services’• Volunteer turnover• Political restrictions• Lack of food security• Safety• Lack of male volunteers• Lack of access to comprehensive antiretroviral
services
Conclusion
� Narrative inquiry provides a relevant and effective approach to social research
� Possibilities for new organic collaboration and coproductiono Beyond delivery to health itself o Adaptable to personal-social situations,
context, perceived spiritual dimensions, & the political environment
Diane [email protected]
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